It is worth pointing out here that the general manager of McHale’s team, Daryl Morey, is 40 this year, and thus qualifies as young when it comes to the realm of decision-makers in major pro sports. It is also worth pointing out that Morey has initiated one of the most active three-week periods for any NBA team in recent memory, shuffling about 20 players onto and off of his roster, a number that figures to keep growing as the summer goes on. In Morey, we have seen a blur of activity.

Achievement, though? We’re a long way away from being able to judge that.

On Thursday, the Rockets officially introduced their most notable offseason acquisition, point guard Jeremy Lin, who was locked up with a three-year contract worth $25 million. We're familiar Lin’s benchwarmer-to-superstar story, of course, and know the risks that come along with this signing—he made only 25 starts last season, finishing the season with knee surgery, and despite that tornado of success, he might not be durable enough to withstand a full season against NBA defenses. The Rockets are aware of this. Lin is aware of it.

“I want to be able to, the first thing, is to be able to get my muscles, my legs, to be able to withstand a whole season completely healthy, and to not lose any speed or explosiveness, not to let fatigue affect my play,” Lin said. “I want to get much better, everything, with my left hand—whether it is passing, finishing, driving left, making decisions while going left, mid-range game, my catch-and-shoots. I think there are a lot of different things, if you break down my stats, if you really get into my stats about how I played last year, I think there are a lot of different ways I can improve.”

The greater unknown, though, is what kind of team Lin will be taking over, even if he is healthy and plays up to his potential.

Speaking about the Rockets’ summer-league performance, McHale was told his team had gotten some wins and joked that they should be getting wins, because four of his starters are out there. That’s an exaggeration, of course, but only a slight one. Two of the Rockets’ starters—Kevin Martin and Chandler Parsons—are back, but Morey sent out rotation mainstays Luis Scola (amnesty provision), Kyle Lowry (traded to the Toronto Raptors), Samuel Dalembert (traded to the Milwaukee Bucks), Goran Dragic (free agency) and Chase Budinger (traded to Minnesota), with Marcus Camby (traded to the New York Nets) also gone and guard Courtney Lee on his way to the Boston Celtics.

In their place will be a flotilla of untested players. Morey stockpiled three picks in this year’s first round and chose Jeremy Lamb, Terrence Jones and Royce White, who have all looked good in summer league (as has undrafted pointed guard Scott Machado, who could be a keeper for the Rockets). He is also bringing over last year’s first-round pick, the 7-foot Lithuanian Motiejunas, also a summer star. That give Houston, potentially, five rookies as rotation players.

Martin has eight years in the league, but beyond him, the Rockets are likely to put Toney Douglas (three years experience), Patrick Patterson (two years), Gary Forbes (two years) and Lin (two years) alongside a group of players that are either rookies or second-year guys. If you buy into the notion that last year, shortened as it was by the lockout and with very little practice time, stunted the growth of rookies most of all, then the Rockets figure to be remarkably short on experience. They will go ahead with plans to sign Bulls center Omer Asik to an offer sheet like the one they gave Lin, but Asik has only two years as a backup behind him, and Chicago will have three days to match the offer.

Of course, Morey did not construct this team as it stands under the delusion that it is a potential champion. Or even a playoff contender. Or even a 30-win bunch. Instead, he has gotten together a group that has potentially critical assets—a store of coveted young players and ample cap space. As next year wears on, it is almost inevitable that a star player or two will grow weary of their situations and begin angling to move elsewhere, and when that happens, no team will be in better position to make an offer than the Rockets. If such a situation does not come up, then, at worst, Houston takes its lumps this year and comes out with a good crack in next year’s draft lottery, with the potential to wind up with a star player that way.

Morey can be comfortable in knowing that he has the approval of his boss, owner Les Alexander, in this pursuit.

“I think it is stupid to be content,” Alexander said. “I don’t think you should ever be content. So we are always trying to get better. If Daryl was that kind of guy, then he wouldn’t be here.”

It’s easy to look at the players that Houston has dealt away in the last three weeks—Lowry and Budinger and Dalembert—and wonder what the heck Morey is up to. But the reality is that the players on Houston’s roster were remnants of a team built with the expectation that Yao Ming would be the center for four or five more years. Morey is right to cash in as many of those players as he can for multiple young assets. It could leave Houston in position to make a big score at some point in the coming year. Or it could mean that they’re very bad and headed toward the top of the draft. That’s the risk-reward scenario they’re facing.

It’s also the reason behind Morey's recent activity. He’s going to have to wait to see whether it translates into achievement.